The Future of Civil War History

In March 2013, hundreds of academics, preservationists, consultants, historical interpreters, museum professionals, living historians, students, K-12 teachers, and new media specialists gathered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to assess the state and potential future of the study of the American Civil War. The essays in this special issue build on the themes of that conference: embracing the democratic and civic potential of historical thinking; reaffirming the power of place and the importance of specific, focused stories; integrating military, political, social, cultural, and gender history; and encouraging collaboration among historians working in different settings. Our three guest editors offer their own thoughts about the state and potential future of Civil War history. [excerpt

Line lists for the A2PI-X2Sigma+ (red) and {B2Sigma+-X2Sigma} (violet) Systems of CN, 13C14N, and 12C15N, and Application to Astronomical Spectra

New red and violet system line lists for the CN isotopologues 13C14N and 12C15N have been generated. These new transition data are combined with those previously derived for 12C14N, and applied to the determination of CNO abundances in the solar photosphere and in four red giant stars: Arcturus, the bright very low-metallicity star HD 122563, and carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars HD 196944 and HD 201626. When lines of both red and violet system lines are detectable in a star, their derived N abundances are in good agreement. The mean N abundances determined in this work generally are also in accord with published values.Comment: ApJS, in press, 37 pages, 7 figures, 3 table

Markets, Contracts, or Integration? The Adoption, Diffusion, and Evolution of Organizational Form

The rise of contract farming and vertical integration is one of the most important changes in modern agriculture. Yet the adoption and diffusion of these new forms of organization has varied widely across regions, commodities, or farm types, however. Transaction cost theories and the like are not fully effective at explaining the variation of adoption rates of different organizational forms, in part because of their inherent static nature. In order to explain the adoption, diffusion and evolution of organizational form, a more dynamic framework is required. This paper lays out such a framework for understanding the evolution of organizational practices in U.S. agriculture by drawing on existing theories of economic organization, the diffusion of technological innovation, and organizational complementarities. Using recent trends as stylized facts we argue that the agrifood sector is characterized by strong complementarities among its constituent features and that these complementarities help explain the stylized facts. We also discuss several testable hypotheses concerning changes in organizational form in agriculture.contracting, vertical integration, organizational innovation, diffusion, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, L14, L22, Q13, O33,

Deep proteogenomics; high throughput gene validation by multidimensional liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry of proteins from the fungal wheat pathogen Stagonospora nodorum

BACKGROUND: Stagonospora nodorum, a fungal ascomycete in the class dothideomycetes, is a damaging pathogen of wheat. It is a model for necrotrophic fungi that cause necrotic symptoms via the interaction of multiple effector proteins with cultivar-specific receptors. A draft genome sequence and annotation was published in 2007. A second-pass gene prediction using a training set of 795 fully EST-supported genes predicted a total of 10762 version 2 nuclear-encoded genes, with an additional 5354 less reliable version 1 genes also retained. RESULTS: In this study, we subjected soluble mycelial proteins to proteolysis followed by 2D LC MALDI-MS/MS. Comparison of the detected peptides with the gene models validated 2134 genes. 62% of these genes (1324) were not supported by prior EST evidence. Of the 2134 validated genes, all but 188 were version 2 annotations. Statistical analysis of the validated gene models revealed a preponderance of cytoplasmic and nuclear localised proteins, and proteins with intracellularassociated GO terms. These statistical associations are consistent with the source of the peptides used in the study. Comparison with a 6-frame translation of the S. nodorum genome assembly confirmed 905 existing gene annotations (including 119 not previously confirmed) and provided evidence supporting 144 genes with coding exon frameshift modifications, 604 genes with extensions of coding exons into annotated introns or untranslated regions (UTRs), 3 new gene annotations which were supported by tblastn to NR, and 44 potential new genes residing within un-assembled regions of the genome. CONCLUSION: We conclude that 2D LC MALDI-MS/MS is a powerful, rapid and economical tool to aid in the annotation of fungal genomic assemblies

Development and application of a self-referencing glucose microsensor for the measurement of glucose consumption by pancreatic ?-cells

Glucose gradients generated by an artificial source and ?-cells were measured using an enzyme-based glucose microsensor, 8-?m tip diameter, as a self-referencing electrode. The technique is based on a difference measurement between two locations in a gradient and thus allows us to obtain real-time flux values with minimal impact of sensor drift or noise. Flux values were derived by incorporation of the measured differential current into Fick's first equation. In an artificial glucose gradient, a flux detection limit of 8.2 ± 0.4 pmol·cm-2·s-1 (mean ± SEM, n = 7) with a sensor sensitivity of 7.0 ± 0.4 pA/mM (mean ± SEM, n = 16) was demonstrated. Under biological conditions, the glucose sensor showed no oxygen dependence with 5 mM glucose in the bulk medium. The addition of catalase to the bulk medium was shown to ameliorate surface-dependent flux distortion close to specimens, suggesting an underlying local accumulation of hydrogen peroxide. Glucose flux from ?-cell clusters, measured in the presence of 5 mM glucose, was 61.7 ± 9.5 fmol·nL-1·s-1 (mean ± SEM, n = 9) and could be pharmacologically modulated. Glucose consumption in response to FCCP (1 ?M) transiently increased, subsequently decreasing to below basal by 93 ± 16 and 56 ± 6%, respectively (mean ± SEM, n = 5). Consumption was decreased after the application of 10 ?M rotenone by 74 ± 5% (mean ± SEM, n = 4). These results demonstrate that an enzyme-based amperometric microsensor can be applied in the self-referencing mode. Further, in obtaining glucose flux measurements from small clusters of cells, these are the first recordings of the real-time dynamic of glucose movements in a biological microenvironment. <br/

Looking for a Job, Finding the Right Employee

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A Look at the Employment in the United States Swine Production Industry

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Gas micro-well track imaging detectors for gamma-ray astronomy

We describe our program to develop gas micro-well detectors (MWDs) as three-dimensional charged particle trackers for use in advanced gamma-ray telescope concepts. A micro-well detector consists of an array of individual micro-patterned gas proportional counters opposite a planar drift electrode. The well anodes and cathodes may be connected in X and Y strips, respectively, to provide two-dimensional imaging. When combined with transient digitizer electronics, which record the time signature of the charge collected in the wells of each strip, full three-dimensional reconstruction of charged-particle tracks in large gas volumes is possible. Such detectors hold great promise for advanced Compton telescope (ACT) and advanced pair telescope (APT) concepts due to the very precise measurement of charged particle momenta that is possible (Compton recoil electrons and electron-positron pairs, respectively). We present preliminary lab results, including detector fabrication, prototype electronics, and initial detector testing. We also discuss applications to the ACT and APT mission concepts, based on GEANT3 and GEANT4 simulations